Furnace-grate



E. B/PRIEBE.

' FURNACE ems.

APPLICATIHON FILED JULY 26. I919.

Patented Nov. 23, 1920.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I- INVENTOR.

v :BI

ATTORNEYS;

E. B PRIEBE. FURNACE GRA TE. APPLICATION FILED JULY 26. 1919.

Patented Nov. 23, 1920.

3 SHEETS-SHEEY 3 I N VEN TOR.

3- @mie,

A TTORNEYS UNITED s'rA'I EsTPA-TE T "OFFICE.

ERNEST a. PRIEBE, or mwoon, Newer), hssrenon or ONE-HALF 'ro WARREN c.

' DRAKE, or mwoon, NEW YORK.

vanhoe-(3mm.

the following isa specification,reference being had therein to the accompanying drawing. 10

This invention relates to furnace grates and more particularly to thetwyer construction, forming thefuel bed support .of a furnace and supplying air of combustion to .thefuel. I

V The main objects of the invention are to afiord a furnace grate construction which will have greater efficiency in regard to its air supplying function and otherwise,

greater durability with reduced liability to damage, ease of removal and replacement ofiinjnred or destroyed members, and soon omy and low cost of construction. A further object is toenable the principles of-the present invention to be applied to the standard makes of furnace or stoker construction, and the same are applicable to various types, for example,-the stationary grate, the reciprocating grate, or the travelin grate. In the well known-Taylor stoker, t e'main portions ofthe grateare stationary although certain portions are reciprocatory; and for convenience of illustration I have adopted bar oraa twger plate, cons ructed in a ord some of the general features of the Taylor stoker and incorporated therewith-the features of the present'improvement.

To the attainment of the above mentioned Lobjects, the present invention consistsin the novel furnace grate andfthe novel features of construction, combination, arrangement, mechanism ,and detail- -herein illustrated, .described. orclaimedr In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a general side elevation of the interior parts of a furnade" of the Taylor type but modified to incorporate thepre'se'nt invention. Fig. 2 -is.a similar side elevation on a larger scale, of theparticular parts to which the invention pertains, andbroken away'in certain respects for-ipurposesgof illustration. :Fig. 3 is a. perspective viewof oneof the grate members, whichmayibe termed a grate present invention.

ance with .65 Fig; isia top view of. several adjacent Spe ciflcation'of Letters Patent. i Application filed July 26,

ork, have invented a new and useful Furnace-(irritant which,

Patented Nov. 23, 1920.

191's. Serial No. 313,590.

twyer members in'face contact, seen from dlrection of arrow 4 in Fig. 2. v Fig. 5 is a transverse section of one of the interlocking cap plates overlying the twyer plates.

ig. 6 is a transverse section of the grate as a whole, taken approximately on the line '66 of, Fig.1. v

Figs; 7 and 8, in transverse section, show 'a modlfication of the structure and mount- IIIQKOf the twyer plates and cap plates.

The drawings show the usual front wall 10, and at the rear a bridge wall 11. The

\side walls 12 may be of the usual constructions i At the front, exterior to the furnace, is the fuel hopper .14, beneath which is the reciprocating infeeding ram or pusher 15.

This thrusts the fuel rearwardly into thefur' ace where it forms and maintains a bed 16, indicated both in Fig. 1 and Fig. 6. The

fuel from the ram case passes through the throat or beneath the front wall 10 and thence into a series of retorts 17 These retorts are in the form of inclined troughs extending downwardly toward the'rear of the furnace. In each retort is one or more distributing rams 18 which maintain the fuel in gradual progress downward and toward the rear.

, The retorts are formed between structures that may be" termed twyer boxes 19, as seen in Fig. 6, and above each twyer box is a series or bank 20 of the twyer members or blocks 30, giving a construction whereby air is furnished into the heart of the burn ing fuel bed as it progresses rearwardly. Fig. .1 shows a wind box 22 having compartments leading, respectively; to the twyer boxes and to an extra or a terminal grate section 23 located to the rear of the twyer boxes. The fuel traveling down over the inclined structures described, passes from the terminal grate'section- 23 to an auto-.

matic dumping mechanism 24 of usual-com struction. The grate section .23 may be reciprocated by connecting rod 25- extending to the frontof the apparatus.

In the Taylor structure, the twyer construction on top of the twyer box, is built up of a certain form of twyer plates lald horizontally in step fashion, with certain provision for air passages so that the forced draft through the twyer box and wind box willsupply air to the interior of the burning fuel. This mode of construction, and that in various other makes of stoker, is far from satisfactory, and the present invention purports to afford a construction improved in the respects herein enumerated.

The twyer members 30 hereof, which are solid structures and may be termed blocks,

For the purpose of definition, to make clear the present improvement, I shall term the length of each twyer block the distance a to b on Figs. 2. and 3. The distance a to c is the thickness. The distance d to e is the width, corresponding to the width of the twyer box below. In this invention, the length and the height of the block are substantially the same thing. Its length does not lie horizontal, as in the prior structure,

' but the outer end or that removed from the box is substantially higher than the inner end, where. it rests upon the box. v

The twyer block hereof, while. preferably made in, one piece, as in Figs. 3 and 6, may be made in two pieces, as in Figs. 7 and 8, although in the latter case they will be substantially rigidly united in use. In either .form, the twyer member or block, as a whole, is hollow for'the free flow of air from the box to the twyers or passages.

p In both forms, each block comprises a pair of o posite, upstandin substantially longitu inal side bars 31. hese preferablv converge, as

shown, and instead of meeting above are somewhat too short to meet, each bar havg a top side 32 engaging the cap plates to be described.

In the main form, Figs. 3 and '6,'the twyer block has athin cross connector or web 33 tension 34 projecting downwardly to en" age I thewalls o'f'the twyer box,'as shown. E

integral with the side bars and rendering the entire block a unitary structure. The web is shown as having a positioning exach ' web isfiperforated with a hole'35 toreceive a bolt secure together the entire stack of bloc ,--What I termpthe face'36 of each twyer block, and of each of the side bars 31 there- 0f, is the plane or surface which stands in face contact with the similar planeor surface of the adjacent twyer block. One way to define the-position of theftwyer'mem bers hereof isto state that the faces' or the planes of face contact between the successive members is upstanding, or substantially at right angles the top edges of ment, and also in manufacture or construction. These adavantages will appear from the description herein or will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

The described structure and arrangement permits laterally directed twyer openings to be readily-supplied. Thus, each of the faces 36 of each of the blocks may be provided with grooves or passages. for example, to cast a half round groove on the face of one block, and 9. corresponding half round groove on the opposite face of the adjacent block, the two registering as shown, to give a round aperture or twyer. As shown in the cross sections, each of these is tapered, affording a nozzle which directs the air with suitable force, laterally into the advancing bed of fuel in each of the retorts 17. Three of such twyer passages are shown between each pair of blocks; the lowest passage, 37, being of quite large diameter, and those above, 38 and 39, being of progressively smaller size. By this, the air is caused most effectively to reach into the heart of the fuel bed assing along the retorts. Owingto the a vantageous converging shape of the blocks, as seen in Fig. 5, the lower and larger twyer openings, 37, have their outlets nearer to the center of the retorts and they deliver air with the greatest force, below the zone of fire.

The twyer blocks may be ,secured in their relative position and drawn forcibly into face contact by a long bolt 41 passing through the holes 35 in the webs of the respective blocks. This construction affords a wholly rigid twyer system supported firmly on the top of the air supplying twyer box.

For some purposes it might be desirable to form each twyer member as two separate bars 31", 31, as shown in Figs. 7 and S, in

I am enabled,

which case a longitudinal supporting chnnnel 43 may be supplied over which the web 33 of each bar lies. Each web having the same perforation 35, as before, the securing bolt 41 may be employed, and extending downwardly from this bolt at suitable points may be tie bare 44 extending and secured beneath cross bars 45.

The twyer member hereof, with its ,converging side bar arrangement, the tops of thetwo bars 31 approaching but not meeting, permits a series of cap pieces or-platcs 50 to be applied' and firmly secured by being dovetailed below the top extremities of the bars. These cap pieces are shown in cross section in Fig. 5, and each may be of suflicient length to extend overfour or more twyer members, as indicated in Figs. 1 and 2. Each cappiece 50 has "an arched body resting directly on the tops of the twyer bars, and one or more depending dovetail extensions 51 by which the plate is locked in place. Each cap piece is also shown as overlapping the 'next lower one in the series, and as having exterior ribs one of which, 52, serves for relatively positioning and locking each cap piece to the next one below. Each cap piece, additiona1ly, has= lateral passages or twyer openings 53..

Thus, a very effective and uniformair distribution is afforded throughout the fuel bed, It may be advantageous to furnish a certain amount of air in an upward rather than a lateral direction, and I have there fore shown the lower extremity or nose '54 ofeach cap piece standing directly above a dip or recess 55 at the top side of the next lower cap piece, thus permitting the air to at this point of the stoker. -There may be a special cap piece 63 which overliesthe first regular cap piece 50 and is held firmly in place by a bolt 64. The lowermost terminal block 61 may'have an underlyingfoot 65 I v for locking it in place.

r The operation of the present invention so far as concerns the replacement of injured or burned out twyer members or cap I plates, maybe simply as follows: Loosening the bolt 64 permits the special topmost cap plate 63 to be displaced, and when this is done the way is opened to displace and remove 'any one or all of the cap plates. A

slight upward adjustment of any cap plate removes its locking rib 52 from beneath the adj oiningend of the next lower plate. Thus, any injured cap plate can beswung around until its locking extension 51 stands longitudinallypermitting the cap' plate to be quickly'taken out and replaced. This also gives access to the stacked twyer members.

Being placed substantially upright, with their weight restingon the twyer, box, the

plates are practically independent of each other, and, when the connecting 13011141 is loosened or removed, any defective twyer member may be lifted out of place and replacedby a new one by simply loosening and moving slightly up the incline the twyer members above it.

The form of the twyer members, which converge from their base upwardly, giving an inverted V-shape or rather an A-shape, is advantageousn Instead of stating that the members converge upwardly, they may be described as diverging downwardly, and this arrangement gives a shape of retort described.

tures 37,38, 39 and 53, which are in stepped,

relation, as already explained, so that the burning body of fuel is most effectively sup: plied with air of combustion. To illustrate this, I-have applied a series of arrows at the right hand retortin Fig. 6, to indicate or suggest generally the manner. of air flow from the twyer aperturesinto the fuelbed.

In this connection, I find it advantageous to construct the twyer superstructure at the extreme sides of the furnace ofsomewhat reater height'than the intermediate ones. *ig, 6, at the sides, illustrates this. Special asymmetrical twyer members and cap plates are provided for the extreme sides of the furnace, as shown, which need no special additional -description, and in manufacturing these I design them of greater length "or height. The greater tallness of the edge members conduces to a greater efiiciency of combustion. At the same time it enables forming one additional twyer opening at .the face of-each member, so that we'have fourinsteadof threegraded discharge nozzles delivering air into the retorts. Above these four. are the dischargeapertures 53 formed at the base of. the cap plates, and abovethesekthe .upwardgair outlet formed between the successive cap plates, as already Both at the edge twyer structures and the intermediate ones we, therefore, have I graded twyer discharges laterally into the fuel bed in the retorts, and thereabove the upwardly directed discharge, not into the retort but directly toward the top of the fire bed.

Instead of having the two opposite side bars of each twyer member arranged in direct alinement, with their faces in the same planes, I prefer to symmetrically slant them, as seen in the-top view, Fig. 4, so that they nest or fit together as shown, and so that the ally directed air jets hav {m metal corners j, is of the surfaces 32. The

lower edge Zm is horizontal. Directly above so w 2. Structure as in claim 1 and wherein the it is horizontal line no, which touches metal corners n, 0. The line dc is above the base plane and beyond the plane fgml. The

oint 'b, beneath a, is in the base plane. The l otto msxof the lugs 34 are in the base plane. The "metal corners a, p are above the plane fghz', and are beyond'the plane fgml on'ac- 'count' of the incline of the side bars 31.

The metal corners c, g are higher than a, p. The verticals below g and h pass through cogners' o and-abut the metal corners s, t

are beyond the plane ilw". These details are merely xthe disclosure of one mode of embodying the improvement; It will thus be seen that I have described a furnace grate embodying the principles and attaining the objects and advantages "of the present invention;; Since many matters of combination, arrangement, design and detail may be variously modified without departing from the underlying principles, no limitation to such inatters is intended except in so faras set forth in theappended claims. Whatis claimed is:

1.3 A furnace grate comprising retorts separated by air boxes," andv above each air box a bank of. outs't nding hollow twyer members, each memb r consisting of two opposite spaced-apart bars connected by a thinner web. 'p

opposite bars, converging upwardly, leave a space, and'a' series of cap plates overlying the bank of twyer; members and engaging in the space between the opposite bars thereof.

3, Structure a's in'claim 2' and wherein each cap platedia's a locking extension which may be inserted between the opposite bars and swung into locking position.

"47; A furnace grate comprising retorts I separated by air boxes,and above eachair box a bank of outstanding hollow twyer members, each member consisting of spaced apart bars,-and oyerlying said. members a series of ov'erlapping cap'plates.

5. Structure-as in" claim 4 and wherein eachcap plate looks with the overlapping and underlapping cap plates and with the twyer members beneath.

6. Structure as in claim 5 and wherein the r means locking the cap plates with the twyer members is a thin dovetail extension on each cap plate, unlocked and-lockedby swinging the cap plate when disassembling or assembling;

spaced-apart bars of each twyer member are arranged at symmetrically slanting angles to the direction of fuel advance, namely, slanting toward the furnace rear.

8. Structure as in claim 7 and wherein air orifices are. directed through said bank of members into the fuel at a similar slanting i angle.

9. -A furnace grate comprising an air box, and a bank of outstanding hollow twyer members thereon, the same formed to provide air passages directed laterally into the fuel bed, said passages being of graduated sizes and the larger being lower and having orifices slanted toward the furnace rear.

10. A furnace grate comprising an air box, and a bank of outstanding hollow twyer members thereupon, formed to provide air passages directed laterally into the fuel bed,

such air passages having their orifices directed slantingly toward the furnacerear and being at different levels, with the lower passages of larger orifice than the higher ones.

11. A twyer member having the shape of the letter A with the tops of the side bars spaced apart and the cross web thinner than the side bars.

- 12. Twyer member as in claim 11 and wherein each side barhas grooves forming air passages directed into the fuel bed.

13. In a furnace grate a bank of upstand-- ing hollow twyer blocks stacked in face contact, each consisting of two opposite side bars spaced apart, and a series of cap plates locking with the tops of said bars, each having underneath grooves affording lateral twyer apertures.

14. In a furnace grate a bank of upstanding hollow twyer blocks stacked in face contact, each consisting of two opposite side bars spaced apart, and a series of cap plates looking with the tops of said'bars, each having underneath grooves affording lateral twyer apertures, and upward orifices.

15. In a furnace grate a bank of upstanding hollow twyer blocks stacked in face contactwith lateral orifices directed into the fuel bed, each block having its sides symmetrically inclined toward the furnace rear, and said orifices being similarly inclined.

In testimony whereof I have afiixed my signature hereto.

ERNEST B. PRIEBE. 

